Today’s session was similar to the one Lightning told you about in yesterday’s post. Again we did both yard work and field work, again Sasha joined Laddie and Lightning for the training, and again one of Sasha’s caregivers joined us, in this case, Sasha’s mommy, Erin.

There were also differences. We used different locations, and Laddie did no yard training and ran only one blind and one mark, though both were 300y+ with significant challenges. Laddie did a nice job, and Sasha made good progress on both the yard and field work we did with her.

Lightning again did well on the formal obedience practice, which was the same as yesterday’s. For the field work, I again ran him on two sets of four retrieves each, using a holding blind, a mat, stickmen, and a gunner (Erin this time) throwing marks. Like yesterday, we used black bumpers exclusively for Lightning. In fact, the first set was virtually identical to the two sets Lightning described in yesterday’s post.

And Lightning’s returns on the first set were once again unsatisfactory, even with him wearing a 15’check cord. I thought he’d show progress from yesterday, but he really didn’t. So for today’s second set, I made some changes to the setup.

First, I took away one of the stickmen, so the new setup had only one stickman. And second, I almost doubled the distances from the start line to where the marks were being thrown, though it meant longer, more tiring walks for me on the poorman marks.

It may seem strange, but I was so confident those changes would solve Lightning’s put returns that I didn’t even put on his check cord for the second set, though he still wore his training tab for steadiness training on the two marks Erin threw.

And I was right. With the longer marks and only one stickman, Lightning came straight back with all four marks, even delivering them to hand. He was also steady on Erin’s last throw, so I never let the tab become taut.

Good progress. I think we’ll be ready for additional challenges, such as adding back the second stickman, and then proceeding down the flow chart, soon.

Hi, Lightning here. Since this is “Lightning’s Journal” and I’m Lightning, Daddy said I could write today’s post. To be honest I’m sure it’ll be more interesting than if he wrote it. 

I’ll tell you, it was a big day. First Daddy studied Mr. Lardy’s flow chart a little, and then we watched the section on “Formal Obedience” again on Mr. Lardy’s DVD. I don’t know how many times Daddy’s going to watch it. I’ve already seen it at least three times myself.

From the flow chart, Daddy figured out that if we were going to do both yard work and field work today, the yard work would be “Formal Obedience” and the field work would be two things: “Singles off Multiple Guns” and “Lead Steady (taut lead with use of hand on release)”. But we don’t have a DVD for the field stuff yet, so Daddy needed to come up with his own version.

Daddy did make a more detailed list of our formal obedience objectives. Here are the notes he made, a list of the commands, or cues as Daddy calls them, that Mr. Lardy was saying I needed to learn:

• “Here” to move out of Sit in heel position, including turns (trainers, including Mike, sometimes say Heel for this rather than Here since Heel is the command used for this behavior in other sports)
• “Sit” at side when heeling stops
• “Here” from Sit at front
• “Sit” in front finish position when called
• No “stay”
• “Heel” from front sit to side sit, either side
• Whistle Sit (one tweet)
• Whistle come-in (multiple tweets)

Then we arranged for someone to train with, but we would only have one more person besides Daddy, so how were we going to run singles with guns out? Daddy made notes on that, too:

• Stickmen and/or chairs with white jackets
• Poorman singles or remote launchers

Daddy packed up our holding blind and a couple of stickmen into the van, but he left extra chairs and launchers in the garage, so I guess that gives you a hint of how the sessions went.

Next we went to pick up the other human, whose name is Sandra. And we also picked up another dog, a fluffy, pretty girl dog named Sasha that Sandra helps takes care of. I guess Sasha isn’t a purebred retriever like Laddie and me, since retrieving doesn’t come as natural to her, but Daddy and Sandra have given Sasha some training. Daddy even has another blog about it, called “Training Sasha”.

So now we were going to do both yard work and field work with three different dogs. Like I said, it was a big day.

For the yard work, we drove to a field up the street from Sasha’s house where Laddie, Sasha, and I have played and trained before. It was quiet at first, so Daddy took Laddie out of the van first and did some formal obedience with him. I don’t know why he bothered. It was way too easy for Laddie. But I guess Daddy was rehearsing what he was going to do with me. He even gave Laddie treats. Believe me, Laddie doesn’t get treats for retriever training very often. After all, he’s a Master Hunter and has a zillion field trial ribbons.

Then it was my turn, and sure enough, Daddy did the same maneuvers with me that he had done with Laddie. Of course it was harder for me, but the treats made it fun even though we weren’t doing any retrieving.

To be honest, our work didn’t really look much like the video. For one thing, I’m a lot smaller than any of the dog’s in the video. I’m just a little guy. Daddy calls me Scrumption when we’re at home.

For another, Daddy didn’t put lines on Laddie or me the way Mr. Lardy did with the dog doing formal obedience in the video. He also didn’t use a choke chain or heeling stick. For my formal obedience training, it was just Daddy, me, and the treats. I guess Mr. Lardy had his way of reinforcing the work his dog was doing, and Daddy had a different way of reinforcing me when I did the same things. It reminded me of some clicker training Daddy did with me before, but he didn’t use a clicker this time. As I completed each task, he’d just say “Good!’ and give me a taste of the sliced ham he had in his pocket.

Remember the list of cues Daddy made from watching Mr. Lardy’s video on formal obedience? Well, we worked on all of them, but in a particular order. Daddy pretended we had a holding blind, and a mat in front of the blind, out there where we were doing our yard work, even though the holding blind and mat were actually still in the van. Then he’d follow these steps:

1. Sit next to Daddy behind the imaginary blind.
2. Leave me sitting there while Daddy walked a few feet to the side of the “blind” so that he could see the imaginary mat. He alternated walking out to the left or the right.
3. Call Here to bring me straight towards him, then cue Sit so that I sat in in front position.
4. Cue Heel and use a sweeping hand gesture to bring me around to heel position. Again he alternated which side he brought me around on. I’d sit down when I was beside him.
5. Cue Here and walk straight to the imaginary mat with me walking in heel position beside him.
6. Cue Sit so that we were both standing on the “mat” facing the same way together.

After we did that once, it turns out we had done all the formal obedience tasks on the list Daddy had made from Mr. Lardy’s video. Daddy had just arranged them into a sequence that we’d need for competition rather than doing the cues in random order the way Mr. Lardy seemed to on the video.

Then Daddy changed where the imaginary holding blind and mat were so that I was sitting behind the new imaginary holding blind, and we did the same thing again, but in a whole new direction, or new orientation as Daddy would say. We did the same six steps over and over, and I got a taste of the delicious ham almost every time I sat down. I felt very good about how our day was going.

Someone brought a dog out of their house where we working so we all got in the van and drove somewhere else to continue our training. Sasha got out first this time, and Daddy worked with Sandra to teach Sasha some obedience skills, too.

That completed our yard work. Now it was time to begin our field work. Daddy and Sandra put on their white jackets and whistles, got out a couple of radios, and loaded up a blank pistol.

As usual, Laddie got to go first. Sasha and I couldn’t see what was happening, but Laddie told us later that he ran a big double with a retired memory bird, and then an even bigger blind. I hope you know what all that stuff means, because I don’t.  I just heard the gunshots and whistles from my crate.

Laddie didn’t get another turn, but Sasha and I each got two more turns. First Sasha, then me, then Sasha, then me again. Sasha ran singles and was mostly practicing her returns, wearing a long line Daddy had brought to help her learn.

My sets were more complicated. For the first set, Daddy got Sandra to help him bring out the holding blind, the mat, and both stickmen, which were metal T-shapes dressed in white one-piece uniforms. Daddy set up the blind and put the mat a few feet in front of it. Then he planted the stickmen about 20y in front of the mat, but on angles to each side. I think he would have put them further out but he was going to walk to them while we were training and he doesn’t walk very well these days. He asked Sandra to go out with two black bumpers and the pistol. She went out about twice as far as the stickmen, and stayed in the angle between them the whole time. Once she was more to the right and threw toward the left, and the other time she was more to left and threw toward the right. This was one of the mirror setups Daddy likes to use to keep me balanced.

Here were the steps of our field practice:

1. From behind the holding blind, Daddy brought me to the mat using the same steps we had practiced the other day and again during yard work today. Of course this time the blind and mat weren’t imaginary.
2. Daddy threw a poorman single from one of the stickmen. That is, he left me sitting  at the start line, walked to the stickman and threw a black bumper, walked back to me, and sent me on my name.
3. We went behind the blind again, then came back out again, and this time I ran one of Sandra’s singles. I was wearing my training tab, which Daddy held loosely rather than taut as the flow chart said. Daddy doesn’t want me to be aware of the tab unless I break. Sometimes I did try to break but I couldn’t because of the tab. Other times I didn’t even bother to try to break and just waited till Daddy sent me so I couldn’t even feel the tab.
4. We repeated steps 1 and 2 for the other stickman.
5. We repeated step 3 with Sandra throwing a single from the other side and in the opposite direction.

So that’s how Daddy ran me on “singles with guns out”. I had no trouble marking the falls and running out to pick up the bumper each time, but to be honest all those white coats out there had me confused and I have to admit my returns were awful. When Daddy brought me out for the second set of four marks, he moved all the equipment to new positions and orientation, and this time he had me wear my check cord, which I haven’t needed the last several training sessions. But the check cord helped Daddy catch me before my returns got too bad, so I had a chance to do better on the second set. I even delivered my bumpers to Daddy’s hand a few times instead of dropping them at the start line, even though Daddy doesn’t require me to delivery to hand the way he does with Laddie.

So that’s how the day went, with both yard work and field work for all three dogs. Daddy looked exhausted, but everyone else was fine and we had a great time. I’m ready for more soon, tomorrow I hope!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m developing a program I call Positive Retriever Training (PRT) and modeling it on the Total Retriever Training (TRT) program developed by renowned field trainer Mike Lardy. I’m using PRT to train Lightning for a career in field trial competition.

As you’ve seen in my previous posts, I’ve modeled PRT Stage 1 on the section called Socialization and Introduction to Field in Mike’s TRT Flow Chart but not discussed in detail in his video. I also included in PRT some topics not covered in Mike’s program, such as playing catch with a tennis ball and nail trimming.

My original intent was to go onto Stage 2 with Lightning when we had carried out all the Stage 1 training and also when Lightning had finished teething. I was expecting to start Stage 2 about the time Lightning turned six months old, which was three weeks ago. But I felt at that time that Lightning had missed too many weeks during Stage 1 because of my back injury and then because of the winter weather, so I decided to continue work on Stage 1 objectives until I felt Lightning had a well developed understanding of, and motivation for, the retrieve pattern, that is: go out, pick up the bird, and bring it back. Over the last several days of practice, continuing the kind of work I’ve described in previous posts, I’ve come to feel that we’re now ready to begin PRT Stage 2.

PRT Stage 2 is modeled on TRT Basics. During the next several months of Lightning’s training, I’ll describe all the work in this positive approach to the training. But as the indispensable basis for the PRT program, we’ll begin by familiarizing ourselves with Mike’s TRT material.

First, look at the Basics section of the TRT Flow Chart (available online). The left column is called “Yard Sequence”, the right column, “Field Sequence”. This layout is significant both horizontally and vertically: horizontally because the yard work and field work are to be done in parallel, so that the dog progresses down both columns simultaneously; and vertically because the steps Mike describes in each column are to be worked on in the order he lists them. That allows the later concepts to build on the earlier ones. PRT users the same approach and works toward the same objectives in the same sequence, but with some modifications, especially the elimination of force as both an objective and a method.

After you’ve looked at the model for PRT Stage 2 as shown in the Basics section of Mike’s TRT Flow Chart, next watch the first disc of Mike’s TRT video. That will be the basis for our next phase of training.

It is impossible to overstate Mike’s success and contributions to the sport nor my respect for his work. Virtually every second of his program is filled with brilliant insights as applicable to PRT as to Mike’s own TRT program. But since PRT involves training without physical aversives, I’d like to provide some notes to the material in TRT first disc, from the perspective of the PRT approach, addressing those areas where the two approaches differ:

• The first statement I would disagree with is that pressure is necessary. That’s because I look at a dog’s performance from a behavioral point of view. The dog will behave in a particular situation according to a wide variety of factors, including instinct, health issues, and classical and operant conditioning. All of those factors add up to a single rule that controls all behavior: the subject will do what feels best. Using pressure to build the dog’s reinforcement history for particular behaviors, thus making the desired choice feel best, is certainly effective, but to me pressure itself is not the fundamental concept. Rather, any approach that develops the same reinforcement history for the same behaviors would, by definition, be just as effective. That statement in itself doesn’t guarantee that other approaches are possible, but the success of my two Goldens, and the hoped for success of Lightning, have shown and will continue to show that pressure, in the form of physical aversives, is not required to train a competition retriever.
• I will also just say that I disagree that it’s possible for a human to recognize “lack of effort” or “not trying” in a dog’s behavior. To me that’s mind-reading and is simply not possible. My belief that you cannot distinguish lack of effort from making mistakes is as axiomatic to me, as the belief that you can tell the difference is to Mike and his many followers. It might be an interesting debate, but other than stating my position, I won’t go into it further here. Needless to say, PRT doesn’t depend on the trainer being able to make such a judgment. In terms of Mike’s approach, another way to look at it is that a PRT trainer is always in the education phase, and never switches to the punishment phase.
• Mike begins the section on formal obedience by saying that he’ll be using a heeling stick and choke chain. Though we’ll be training the same cues — Heel, Sit, and Here — in PRT, we won’t be using those tools. For example, where Mike pulls on the chain to train Here leaving heel position, we use the same verbal cue but add a hand gesture as a visual cue if necessary. Of course, like Mike, we reinforce correct responses with encouraging words and tone. Depending on the dog, we can also use treats if that improves performance. We don’t use treats to lure, however, since that becomes part of the cueing and the dog won’t understand what to do when the lure isn’t used. Instead, use treats as rewards after the correct response. While treats help train pretty much any Stage 1 dog, for many dogs they add little if any benefit to training a dog in Stage 2 and beyond. Use experimentation to determine what works best for each of your dogs. As for having the dog sit when you stop, we described that training during Stage 1. The dog does not need to be on a line or have any aversive physical contact to develop the level of heeling skill needed by a competition retriever. In fact, even more refined versions of heeling are routinely taught to dogs in other sports without the use of physical aversives.
• That said, I think the method Mike demonstrates for practicing Here and Sit during heeling is fine within the PRT program provided you don’t jerk the line, as Mike says to do within TRT, but instead gently guide the dog with the line. Since Mike’s “jerks” appear quite gentle anyway, there’s little difference. However, I might mention that Mike says one thing but seems to demonstrate something a bit different: he says to use the correction only if the dog doesn’t respond correctly, but he often pulls on the rope while giving the verbal cue rather than waiting a moment to see whether the dog will respond correctly to the verbal cue. Mike is one of the great training masters, but as he himself often expresses, the dog needs to learn how to avoid the correction. The dog in the video is unable to avoid several of Mike’s jerks on the rope no matter how willing he is to respond to the verbal cue, because the jerk happens simultaneously with the cue.
• I guess it goes without saying that PRT doesn’t use the Force Fetch method. We call the corresponding step in PRT “Formal Fetch”. The objectives are nearly the same, except that we don’t consider training the dog the meta-skill of dealing with force as a necessary or desirable objective.
• In my post “Training Take it and Out” from a few weeks ago, I described a different approach to training Lightning to take an article in his mouth during Stage 1 than Mike demonstrates in the video in the Force Fetch section. I think training the dog a “Take it” or “Fetch” cue using positive reinforcement is preferable to physically forcing the article into the dog’s mouth. Mike, however, demonstrates a fairly gentle approach to doing so.
• Of course a PRT trainer would not cuff the dog under the chin during Hold training. In fact, you’d want to maintain a higher Rate of Reinforcement than Mike demonstrates, rather than repeatedly cueing Here without taking the bumper until the dog drops it and needs, in Mike’s approach, a correction. By staying in the education phase, the correction is never needed. Instead, after an incorrect response, you adjust your interaction so that the dog can again be successful and incrementally reach whatever level of skill is required.
• I’d like to emphasize that, aside from the previous notes, I really liked Mike’s section on training and proofing Hold. By the way, you can strengthen the Hold even more by actually petting the dog’s head and chest during the hold, and then taking the bumper.
• I have a confession to make: I’ve never watched Mike’s section on ear pinching before, because I’ve seen people use a much harsher version of it. His version is gentler than I’ve seen before, but in PRT you don’t use any ear pinch at all. The description I gave for the cue “Take it” in my earlier post accomplishes the same thing, except that you’d now use the cue “Fetch”. Aside from the ear pinch, my feeling is that Mike’s guidance on incrementally developing the Fetch cue is great. I’d have broken the Fetch session into even shorter sessions, however.
• On a theoretical note, the video mentions the power of avoidance conditioning. I’m fully in agreement with that, and I think behavioral research backs it up. But I’m not willing to use physical aversives to produce avoidance conditioning, not because it doesn’t work — it does — but because I don’t want to train that way and I don’t believe it’s necessary. You saw the young dog whining several times in the video. None of my dogs have ever done that and I don’t ever want them to. That’s a visceral reason for my developing the PRT program.
• Naturally, we’ll train Walking Fetch without the ear pinch, and we won’t use Stick Fetch at all, though we will add proofing to the Walking Fetch instead. Perhaps there are retrievers who do not develop a compulsion to fetch without the use of aversives. But my feeling is that many, at least, have that compulsion bred into them and don’t need to be tapped with a stick to acquire it.
• Mike shows beautifully how casting, the beginning of handling, organically grows out of the dog’s Fetch training. The only change we’ll make for the PRT program is that we’ll simply draw the dog away from the pile if he/she attempts to shop, rather than adding an ear pinch. Losing the opportunity to complete the retrieve is hugely significant to the dog and, like the ear pinch, will also teach the dog not to shop. I might mention that while shopping is an annoyance during training, it doesn’t actually come up in competition. A note on terminology: as Mike demonstrates, the bumpers in a “pile” are not stacked and do not touch one another.
• The last section of disc 1 provides an overview lesson on ecollar conditioning and refers you to a separate course on the full topic. We of course won’t use an ecollar. But we will use the same several sessions, at the same point in our PRT program, with the goal of achieving every bit the same quality of responses as the dogs in the video demonstrate. I would also add that anyone who is convinced an ecollar must be “cruel” can see that is simply not true by watching the video. I don’t want to use a collar, and you may not want to either, but to me, retrievers being trained under the humane methods that Mike teaches are in no sense being abused.
• I see now that we’ll also need Mike’s Total Retriever Marking course to fill out the field column of PRT Stage 2. I’ll order that and we’ll review it in a separate post.

Now that we’ve reviewed TRT disc 1, we’re ready to begin PRT Stage 2 training for Lightning. We’ll get to the subsequent TRT discs later.

 

Today, on our first day of Stage 2 training, I began teaching Lightning the formal pattern for heeling to the start line. Here’s how we went about it.

For equipment, you need:

• High-value treats (I use sliced deli meat)
• A holding blind
• A rubber mat
• Possibly a mallet to drive the holding blind’s posts into the ground
• Your dog will wear both his/her training tab and a lead for walking. I use a British slip lead because it easily fits in my pocket while I’m running the dog
• One bumper
• You don’t need an assistant, but when you have one, he/she can play a judge

Now, using the treats for ample reinforcement, train the pattern you will use for heeling the dog to the start line. Trainers use a number of variations, but here’s the pattern I use, and I believe many others do as well:

1. Start with an empty dog by airing your dog as long as necessary. Don’t waste a training or competition opportunity by trying to run a dog distracted by nature’s call, resulting in a subpar performance.
2. Begin the sequence by walking the dog on lead to the center of the holding blind.
3. The dog may spend several minutes in the blind, so use soothing words, petting, and so forth to make the wait comfortable. If it helps during training, you can also use treats for this process.
4. In competition or a training day, use this waiting opportunity to watch the team in front of you and learn what you can from their work.
5. At the same time, watch closely for any loose dogs that approach the holding blind. Protect your dog, and above all prevent a dog fight. If necessary, drop to your knees and wrap your arms around your dog. If the other dog gets too close, warn that dog in no uncertain terms, “GET OUT OF HERE!” If that embarrasses the dog’s owner, fine. More likely, he/she will be grateful for your diligence in preventing a fight that could lead to both dogs being eliminated from the event or even banned from the sport.
6. When the judge invites you to run your dog, ask any questions you might still have.
7. Now it’s time to bring out your dog. Cue “Sit”. Most people use a verbal cue, but some use a whistle.
8. Remove the dog’s lead. In training, the dog is still wearing his/her tab until reliably steady.
9. Leaving the dog in a sit, step outside the holding blind. Practice both sides. If you have a choice, choose the side that will give the dog the best view of the setup as he/she approaches the start line.
10. While watching your dog waiting in the holding blind, stop a few feet away, turn your body toward the start line, and call your dog to heel. Again, practice both sides. Having the dog sit at heel is optional, but at this moment, you and the dog are now under judgment, so train this maneuver to be performed with some precision. I gave Lightning a piece of ham here. Practice until you can call the dog to heel from the holding blind and to your side with the two of you fully engaged with one another.
11. Heel the dog to the start line, that is, the rubber mat a few feet in front of the holding blind. Sometimes it is quite close to the holding blind, but usually it’s several feet away. Again, you are under judgment and the dog needs to learn this maneuver with precision. I used ham for this step, too. Practice initially away from all distractions, then, over time, proof with the greatest distractions you can arrange. Reinforce correct behavior amply, but if the dog breaks away when training this maneuver, gently put on the dog’s lead, return to the holding blind, and start again. Practice heeling the dog to attain fluency on either side.
12. Heel the dog onto the mat and cue Sit. Typically the dog only needs to have one foot on the mat, but if you’re not sure, that’s one of the questions you would have asked the judge. In training, reinforce a correct response, but start over if the dog doesn’t sit down immediately.
13. In theory, you’ve now finished practicing the skill we’re working on right now, but the dog would probably appreciate it if you’d throw the bumper for him/her to retrieve. Hold the dog’s tab if necessary to prevent a break, then send the dog on his/her name. Cue the dog to heel, again practicing both sides, and take the bumper. We’re beginning this training before we’ve taught a delivery to hand, so it’s OK if the dog drops the bumper rather than holding it for you take at this stage. On the other hand, if the dog doesn’t let go of the bumper either when you take it or when you cue Out (or whatever cue you use), just wait until the dog becomes bored and releases the bumper.
14. You are still under judgment, so don’t take your lead out of your pocket yet.
15. Don’t turn away from the dog. The dog will sometimes break at that moment. Instead, position yourself to block a break and cue Heel.
16. After heeling a few feet, and before walking past the holding blind where the next dog is waiting, stop and put on your dog’s lead. Many trainers trust their dogs and therefore don’t follow this step. When he was younger, Laddie was attacked twice in the holding blind by such dogs. It did not improve his attitude toward other dogs.
17. In competition or with a training group, you’d now typically walk the dog on lead to your vehicle. When training this skill without other dogs in line, you can return to the holding blind and repeat the sequence to continue practicing it.

Based on Lightning’s training in Stage 1, he was able to perform this sequence on both sides in a non-distracting setting the first time we tried it. Other dogs may need more or less detailed training before being able to perform all the steps in sequence, but all dogs will need extensive distraction proofing.

When you and the dog are ready, merge this sequence into all your retrieve practice so that the novelty and difficulty is gone by the time the dog is running in an event. That way, you can both focus on the test instead of the mechanics of getting to the start line.

Update: I was a bit too impatient to begin Lightning’s Stage 2 training when I started today with heeling to the start line. I believe the material I covered here is still worthwhile, and Lightning did fine with it, but I now feel that my sequence was less than ideal. PRT Stage 2 should begin with the training Mike demonstrates in TRT disc 1, as introduced in the next post, and that’s how I’ll proceed with Lightning from here on.

Since marking is a major topic, I expect to return to it in future posts to Lightning’s journal. Accordingly, I’m calling this post “Marking I” so it will be consistent when I include Roman numerals II, III, etc. on the titles for subsequent posts on the topic.

Some readers might wonder whether marking is a training topic at all. After all, breeding clearly plays a role in a dog’s marking ability, all things being equal. But all things aren’t equal. A dog with less competition breeding but better training for marking will often mark better.

For this first post on the topic, here are some ways I’m using to develop Lightning’s marking ability, and to continue to develop Laddie’s as well. In no particular order:

• Practice. Lightning runs marks every day when I can arrange it. Laddie would like to, but since he’s nearly 9yo, I usually limit him to alternate days.
• Create a picture album. The more pictures a dog has seen in practice, the more likely he/she will be comfortable, and will remember how to run, a similar setup  when encountering it in competition.
• Use appropriate distances. The right distance depends on the dog. If the dog is not marking well, shorter distances along with the other guidelines I’m describing can build confidence and strengthen marking skill. On the other hand, if the dog is having an easy time with short marks, longer marks might provide a greater challenge. But the longer a mark is, the more difficult it is to nail it. A steady diet of long marks, where it’s practically impossible to nail them, may weaken the dog’s confidence for nailing a mark that the dog otherwise would be able to. The same concern applies to practicing anything that the dog can’t yet do well or that by its nature discourages confidence.
• Use visible gunners and articles. To strengthen marking, leave the gunner, wearing a white shirt or jacket, visible while the dog is running, and be sure the bird or bumper is clearly visible in flight. Streamers can add to visibility. All my 3″ bumpers have streamers. The gunner should sit down after throwing, with his or her knees tilted to the same side as the throw. If the dog comes near the gunner, he/she should not make eye contact, move around, or interact in any way. Be sure the dog cannot pick up a spare bird or bumper near the gunner, a very undesirable thing to learn.
• Mix distances.This morning for example, I set up two doubles for Laddie. Each included a retired memory bird 300y+ and thrown on an angle-back a few yards into the woods, and a short go-bird, less than 80y. Laddie also ran a 300y+ blind in each series. After Laddie ran each series, Lightning ran the same setup, except as singles and without retiring the memory bird’s gunner, and of course without running the blind. Field-bred retrievers often tend to love long marks, but they will see both long and short marks in competition, often in the same series, so they need to practice both.
• Run singles with multiple guns out. Letting the dog see multiple gunners, but then run each mark as a single, strengthens focus and reduces likelihood of head-swinging, and as a result promotes good marking. Running multiples is also valuable training for competition, so I’m not saying run only singles. I think Laddie, who is a superb marker, often gets more benefit from running multiples. But at Lightning’s present stage, I think lots of singles are preferable for developing his marking skills.
• Hard to get to, easy to find. If you’re working on strengthening marking, you don’t want the dog to learn to run to the general area of the fall and then hunt, you want the dog to learn to run straight to the bird. That means building a strong reinforcement history for running straight to the bird and finding it there. Dogs do need to learn to find birds thrown into difficult to find places such as into cover, but if that’s all you practice, the dog’s marking may decline.
• Use invisible falls. At this stage in Lightning’s development, to say nothing of Laddie’s, it’s a waste of time to run a mark to an article that’s visible the whole way from the start line. That’s a way to get a dog in the habit of nailing marks, but the dog won’t be able to rely on having a bird that’s visible on the ground from distance in competition. Instead, the dog needs to learn to navigate, for example by means of background shapes, without being able to see the bird or bumper till he/she gets close. The gunner can throw behind a small ridge, over the crest of a rise, or into a depression, for example. You can also use black bumpers with streamers if they’re visible against the background in flight. But if the dog is not able to nail marks invisible from the distance, make them visible again for awhile, or make other changes such as shorter marks, to strengthen that habit.
• Include unavoidable factors. “Factors” are influences against the dog running straight to the fall. Later in the dog’s career, he/she will learn to take a straight line thru avoidable factors, such as the edge of a pond, a keyhole, or the end of a strip of cover, but you can’t train for those kinds of factors till you can handle, a skill the dog will be learning in Stage 2. Meanwhile, you can use unavoidable factors to make the mark more challenging: long strips of cover, embankments, channels, ditches, cross-winds, stick ponds, crossing dirt roads on a diagonal, standing water, and so forth. It goes without saying, however, not to have the dog run somewhere he/she could get hurt, such as a surface that could cut his/her feet.
• Avoid natural guides. Dogs have a natural inclination to run certain lines, such as in mow lines, thru gaps in cover, toward prominent features such as a white tree, and around water. Don’t strengthen those inclinations. Instead, design marks that go diagonally across mow lines, thru strips of cover well away from gaps,  to the side of obvious features, and well away from edges of water the dog is likely to run around.
• Limit hunting only to the area of the fall. Most of the time, you want to create setups where the dog can have success running the marks on a straight line. But sometimes, either by your intent or by accident, the marks will be beyond the dog’s ability to nail them and the dog will need to hunt. It may be useful for a dog to occasionally put on a sustained hunt, and many experiences trainers believe the dog needs to practice long hunts occasionally. But my feeling is that it won’t help the dog’s marking ability. So when that’s my focus, I call for help from the gunner if the dog leaves the area of the fall. That helps the dog learn to use a visible gunner to help navigate. On the other hand, the dog should not practice running at the gunner. If that starts to happen, use shorter marks and call for the longest possible throws so that the dog develops a habit of running to the fall, not the gunner.
• Use new lines. Repeating marks the dog remembers does not promote marking skill, and risks the dog learning to return to an old fall in hopes of finding another bird in the same place, something that will get the dog eliminated from a competition. Instead, when your focus is on developing marking ability, constantly create setups the dog has never run before. There are plenty of exceptions to this, however. One exception might be rerunning a mark the dog had trouble on before if he/she can do better the second time. Another might be a common approach to training the concept of multiples, by running the setup first as singles, then again as a multiple.
• Practice mirrors. You can strengthen learning concepts by running the dog on mirror images of the same setup with a different start line and orientation on two series in a row.
• Don’t practice failure.  Again, if the dog has difficulty running good marks in a particular type of setup — whether because of too much distance, or a particular configuration, or any other reason — if your focus is on developing good marking, don’t keep practicing marks the dog can’t run well.

Good marking is essential to success in competition. Other skills are also needed, but they won’t be enough unless the dog is also a skillful marker. Practicing running good marks is often the primary or only objective of a day’s training.

In my previous post, I mentioned my reluctance to focus too much on steadiness during Lightning’s Stage 1 training to avoid risk of diminishing his motivation for retrieving. But after another few training sessions, I decided that, while that may be a risk with some dogs at a similar stage, it might no longer be a risk with Lightning.

At the same time, I don’t want to proceed to full-blown Stage 2 training with Lightning because I feel he is still benefiting from a steady diet of marking challenges. He now delivers to hand more often than not, but I’ll wait till Stage 2 to formally train it. And I don’t want him learning about handling, which will be a major objective in Stage 2, until he has more experience with land and water marks.

Nor do I think it would be disastrous for him to continue breaking from the start line as soon as the gunner fires, rather than waiting until sent by the handler. But given his excellent motivation for running gunner-thrown marks, I thought we might try some additional steadiness training.

Besides getting started learning another necessary skill, it would have some other advantages. First of all, the more he practices breaking and deriving the reinforcement of his exhilarating bursts into the field, the more difficult it might be to change that habit, especially without the use of aversives. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it’s not possible for him to develop a strong habit of running high quality lines straight from the start line to the mark if he’s already running before the throw.

So for today’s session, I gradually introduced Lightning to running gunner-thrown marks while waiting until sent. I used a rubber mat at our start line. We had a single assistant, Liza. She and I both wore white jackets. Her throws alternated to both sides. Lightning wore a flat collar with a tab.

I had Lightning run six marks with 2″ bumpers at distances gradually increasing from 20y to 60y, with no gunshot or hey-hey-hey. We then changed directions and ran another six marks, all at 60y with 2″ bumpers, again with no gunshot or hey-hey-hey. Finally, we drove to a different location and ran six marks at 80y, alternating between black and white 3″ bumpers and again alternating the direction of the throws, with Liza firing a blank pistol for each throw.

Although the performance criteria for completing the marks kept increasing, our handling mechanics were the same for every mark. First I would maneuver Lightning into a sit at heel at least partially on the mat and facing the gunner. I would cue the sit with a single tweet, adding a verbal cue on the few occasions needed. I also got him up and repositioned him if necessary, until he was reasonably well aligned toward Liza.

Next, I reached down to his neck and slid the collar around so the tab was at the top, then grasped the tab with a strong grip but so that the tab itself was slack. With my eyes on Lightning, I used my free hand to signal for Liza to throw. I then held tight onto the tab to prevent Lightning from breaking. At the instant he relaxed, I dropped the tab and called “Lightning” to send him, and he raced away, grabbed the bumper off the ground, and ran back to me with it.

In the early going, Lightning tried to break when Liza silently threw the bumper but it was not difficult to hold him. During the second group of six marks, he didn’t even try to break on some of the retrieves, so the tab never became taut on those retrieves.

But when we switched to the larger bumpers, which have streamers and are perhaps more exciting, and especially with the added excitement of gunfire, Lightning tried much harder to break than he had before. Yet by the last of those marks, Lightning was again remaining steady until sent, even with the gunfire.

My key consideration for whether to continue working on steadiness was whether I saw any drop in Lightning’s motivation for the work. I did not. At the line, he remained locked in on the gunner and the thrown bumper. When sent, he launched like a rocket, generally overran the bumper a few feet, then spun around and picked it up as he raced back toward me. He even delivered the bumper to hand rather than dropping it on the ground most of the time, even though we haven’t trained that for field retrieves yet.

I might mention that sometimes when I blew whistle Sit, Lightning would lie on the mat, still alert and locked in on Liza, but crouched down on his stomach rather than sitting. I have no idea why. It didn’t slow his launch.

Given Lightning’s success with this training, I think today was a new watershed. From now on, unless I see some deterioration in his motivation or performance, I’ll use his tab to enforce steadiness on all marks. Once he goes thru a sustained period of not trying to break no matter how exciting the situation, a time will come where I won’t bother putting the tab on him any more. Based on today’s work, that may happen sooner than I would have expected.

Steadiness is the skill for a retriever to wait unless and until sent on a retrieve. In competition, it occurs in two situations: as the working dog, when the dog is watching marks being thrown and can’t begin to retrieve them until the judge permits it; and as the honor dog, when watching another dog, typically the next dog in the running order who is now the new working dog, from the honor position a few yards from the start line.

Although I have no direct experience with hunting, my understanding is that steadiness is invaluable in a hunting situation. It prevents the dog from causing an untimely disturbance that might lead to lost opportunities, it prevents dog fights that might occur if dogs decided on their own to go after the same mark, and it keeps the dogs out of harm’s way while guns are being fired.

I also understand that steadiness is so prized in a hunting dog that some trainers develop a high degree of steadiness before they allow a puppy to even begin learning to retrieve.

That is not, however, the prevailing view for training event retrievers. For example, an unsteady dog can earn a WC in the retriever breed clubs such as the GRCA and LRC; can earn an AKC Junior Hunter title; and can compete in the Unsteady class for club competitions.

This is not to say steadiness is necessarily unimportant for a competition retriever. It depends on the level of competition. An uncontrolled break, where the dog ignores a recall cue from the handler, results in disqualification in all events that require steadiness, and even a controlled break, where the dog breaks but then comes back to the start line before getting very far, is a DQ in the more advanced stakes. In a field trial Qualifying stake, the working dog can have a controlled break, but since you can’t talk to the honoring dog, any break from honor knocks you out. At least that’s how some judges rule.

The structure of Mike Lardy’s TRT program is consistent with the view of steadiness as an essential skill but not one of the first ones developed. He does, however, include “Introduction to Lead Steady” as one of the last items in the section Socialization and Introduction to Field in his TRT Flow Chart. Accordingly, I also include it in Stage 1 of the PRT program I’m developing.

By lead steady, I take it that Mike means the dog is physically restrained from breaking by a lead. Since he calls the item “Introduction to …”, I take it that he doesn’t prevent breaking throughout this phase of the dog’s training, but at some point introduces the concept by preventing breaking with a lead in a few marking and/or honoring situations.

I’m not sure what kind of lead Mike uses, but my Goldens were trained steadiness with a short lead, called a tab, attached to their flat collars. That’s how I’ll train Lightning as well. I buy tabs online and tie a knot at the end to shorten them so they won’t catch in the dog’s feet. Here’s a picture of a tab attached to Lightning’s collar:

Most of this post pertains primarily to the steadiness training we’ll be doing in Stage 2, but a tab is also used in Stage 1 for introducing the concept of steadiness.

It’s important that the dog not associate the fact that he/she is wearing a collar and tab with fact that he/she cannot break. Of course that’s elementary physics, but dogs don’t understand physics. As far as they can tell, some invisible force field is preventing them from breaking unless and until they are released.

It’s important that you retain that illusion, because if the dog comes to understand that the only time a break is impossible is when that collar is on, you’ve got what’s called a test-wise dog. That’s a dog who performs well in practice, eliminating the opportunity for corrective measures by the trainer, but then performs incorrectly in events when conditions are different, such as the fact that the dog is not wearing a collar, since collars are not permitted when dogs are under judgment in steady stakes. It’s a difficult problem to fix.

One way to help prevent the dog from being aware of the collar and tab is for the dog to wear the equipment in training even when you’re not working on steadiness. That doesn’t mean that the dog necessarily always wears those items, but only that he/she wears them often when no steadiness work is done. Dogs are superb discriminators, and this method takes away the dog’s opportunity to make the connection between the collar/tab, and the invisible force field as the dog experiences it.

A second way to prevent the dog from making that connection is to keep the tab’s length loose while retaining a tight grip on the end as the dog awaits throws from the gunner. If the dog remains steady, he/she is never aware the tab is there. If he/she attempts to break: you hold on tight; the tab instantly becomes taut before the dog can get further than a few inches; and the illusion of the invisible force field is born.

In Stage 2, I’ll work on Lightning’s steadiness so that no break ever occurs once I begin that training. Based on the experience of many other trainers as well as my own, eventually Lightning will become reasonably steady with that training. Perfection may actually not be achievable, at least for some dogs or perhaps without an unacceptable cost. In fact, they say there are only two kinds of dogs running in field trials: those who have broken, and those who will break.

As for Stage 1, I am not willing to risk detracting in any way from the process of Lightning discovering in himself an ever-deepening love of retrieving, which is my overarching goal for this phase of his life. And I believe a number of requirements for competition, such as deliver-to-hand and steadiness, take exactly that risk. So I’m mostly deferring those skills till Stage 2, by which time his love of retrieving will have fully blossomed.

But in our yard, I’ve begun to set up a few low stress retrieves that introduce lead steadiness. With Lightning wearing his collar and tab, I put Laddie and Lightning both into a sit and I throw a bumper, preventing Lightning from breaking by holding onto the tab. When he relaxes, I drop the tab and release him with “Lightning”.

As an aside, it’s common practice to send the dog on a mark using the dog’s name. If you call the working dog’s name, then the trained honoring dog, in this case Laddie, knows he is not being released.

Anyway, after Lightning returns with bumper, I again take his tab but try to hold it so he cannot feel that I’m holding it. With both dogs once more in a sit, I again throw the bumper, this time calling “Laddie”. If Lightning tries to break, I hold tight onto the tab and he is unable to move from his position. In this way, he is receiving an introduction to honoring after running a mark, as well as to lead steady.

I don’t intend to do much of this in Stage 1. But doing some of it at this point helps my PRT program conform to Mike’s renowned TRT program, and will hopefully pay off in Lightning’s overall development.

Update: In practice, I found that by the end of Stage 1, using the tab to prevent a break on gunner-thrown marks showed no risk of diminishing Lightning’s motivation. In fact, he quickly stopped trying to break on the gunshot, and sometimes didn’t try to break at all. Yet when sent on his name, he raced out with his usual enthusiasm, picked up the bird or bumper, and raced back. Accordingly, whoever is handling him at our practices these days always holds his tab while the marks are being thrown. I suspect he won’t need to be held, at least for bumpers, before long.

However, I rarely have the resources to set up an honor for Lightning, so we will defer that work to Stage 2.

For both of my Goldens, land-water-land (LWL) retrieves were a training challenge. The problem was getting back into the water carrying the bumper or duck after picking it up. Lumi had difficulty at first, but learned to do it fairly quickly. Laddie could do it when he was a puppy, but about the time he turned a year old, he stopped being able to do it and it took me months to figure out how to solve the problem.

Now it was Lightning’s turn. Since he was pretty comfortable with open water retrieves during his first two swimming sessions, for his third session today I thought I’d see how he’d do with some LWL retrieves.

First I packed a long line into the van. If it turned out Lightning was unable to come back across a channel, I’d be able to attach the line to his harness and gently draw him back into the water. That’s the approach that finally worked with Laddie so many years ago, and remarkably, he never needed help with it again after the first time I did it.

Then I picked up two assistants, Peter and Annette, after their classes and work were over, and drove them with the dogs to the training property closest to where I live. Unfortunately, with rush hour, it was a two hour drive, leaving us less than an hour of sunlight to train. That would only leave time for one session for each dog.

First I ran Laddie on a water double and a big water blind, the three retrieves all involving several water re-entries and other challenges. Though it was Laddie’s first water series since last fall, he did a nice job.

For Lightning’s turn, I asked Peter to throw for us and gave my phone to Annette, who I’ve found to be a gifted videographer, so she could take videos of Lightning’s work.

As with Lightning’s previous two water sessions, I didn’t put on his harness and check cord. I didn’t think he’d attempt to play keep-away, and I didn’t want to get the equipment wet unnecessarily.

I started with a straightforward training plan and was prepared to make adjustments as needed once I saw what difficulties Lightning would have. But I didn’t need to make any adjustments. Lightning accomplished each step with little difficulty. Although the plan was pretty obvious, I’ll describe it in case it’s helpful for anyone.

First I chose a water crossing about 20y across, with a low shore on the far side and no obvious way to run around the water. Peter stood on the far shore and threw bumpers when I called for them, firing a blank pistol with each throw. I ran Lightning from a mat 10y from the water on our side, as usual only requiring him to sit in order for me to call for the throw. He would launch excitedly on each gunshot, then adjust the direction he was running once he saw where the bumper was being thrown. We’re not working on steadiness yet.

The first throw required him to swim about two thirds of the way across the channel for an open water retrieve. He ran to the water, but having only swum in one location before, he needed some time to run up and down the shore a bit before getting in this new water. Once he waded in, he seemed to have lost track of the bumper, so I had Peter fire the pistol and throw another one, a bit closer to us this time. Lightning grabbed that one and brought it back to me.

I then asked Peter to pick up a rock and throw it to the bumper still in the water to attract Lightning’s attention. But before Peter had a rock ready to throw, Lightning darted into the water on his own and headed for the bumper. I told Peter not to throw the rock after all, and Lightning brought me the bumper a moment later.

The third throw was right at the shoreline, and the fourth was a foot or so inland. Lightning had no difficulty with those. Finally I had Peter throw his fifth bumper to the base of a tree standing further back from the water, about 10y.

Lightning ran, swam, and ran straight to the bumper, picked it up, and raced back toward me, but when he got back to the water he stopped. I whistled come-in and called Here. He ran up and down the shore a couple of times, then finally waded into the water and swam back. We ran one more retrieve in that location and Lightning got back in the water on the way back without hesitation.

We still had some sunlight so I decided to increase the challenge a bit more with a new location. This time:

• The land entry, from the mat to the water, was longer and the embankment down to the water was steeper.
• The embankment on the far side was quite steep.
• The throw would be over the far embankment, so once it landed, it would be out of sight until Lightning got close to it.

Here’s Annette’s video of how Lightning did:

With air temp of 77 degrees and climbing, I took Laddie and Lightning out for our second day of swimming this year, Lightning’s second day ever.

Here they are going out for water retrieves. I’m afraid that’s as far as I can throw these days. Lightning, who had a head start, is on the left.

They each ran about a dozen retrieves. I was able to take Lightning’s bumper before he dropped it to shake off most times, so that was also good practice for him.

If you’re using Lightning’s journal as a guide for training your own dog, you are probably aware that we are still in the first stage.

I‘ve characterized this elsewhere as the pre-teething stage, but I think calling it Stage 1 is a better designation. That is, if I were training an older dog already past teething, I’d still start with the same training.

In Lightning’s case, all his adult teeth are in, but circumstances have prevented me from giving Lightning as strong a foundation in some of this work as a dog being trained by a professional with a staff, a training property, and a location in good weather for swimming — in other words, one kind of dog I expect Lightning to someday be competing against. So rather than rush into Stage 2, I’m continuing to strengthen Lightning’s foundation with some of our Stage 1 items. 

The Stage 1 list for my Positive Retriever Training (PRT) program is made up of the 18 items on Mike Lardy’s “Socialization and Introduction to Field” at the top of his TRT Flow Chart (you can view it with an online search), plus some additional items of my own. Here then is a rundown of the PRT Stage 1 items and how Lightning is doing with each one. If you’re following this program, hopefully your list looks similar.  

First, Mike’s items:

1. Introduction to Crate. Lightning has completed this item. I serve his meals in a crate indoors, he sometimes goes in there to nap on his own, and he rides in a crate in the van.
2. House Breaking. Lightning has never pooped indoors since I’ve had him. In addition, he nearly always pees outside, but he still makes mistakes indoors. One kind of mistake is when he gets excited with a new visitor petting him. My holistic vet says this is involuntary and will probably pass as he gets older and more confident with strangers. The other kind tends to happen after a rough-housing session with Ryley, DW Renée’s 8mo Golden. It’s easy to prevent. I just need to get Lightning outside immediately after they’ve been playing, but sometimes I’m too slow. This is a training issue and will hopefully be completed someday.
3. Playing with Kids and Adults. Lightning’s been around kids, adults, and other dogs. He’s crazy about all of them. I don’t see this item as needing additional work other than in the normal course of events.
4. Traveling in a Vehicle. Lightning rides in a crate in the van, sometimes for hours at a time. He readily leaps in and out of the crate on cue. My verbal cue is “hippity-hop” rather than the more usual “kennel”.  My visual cue is a sweeping hand gesture. When we ride in Mommy’s car, Lightning and I sit in the backseat with one of the other dogs without difficulty. So I consider this item completed.
5. Learning Limits. Lightning has several examples of this. For one, I can call him away from a play session with Ryley and he’ll curl up at my feet (that is, on my feet) or on the couch and ignore Ryley’s attempts to re-engage him unless I release him with a verbal “OK”.
6. Nature Walks. Lightning and Laddie play in the woods behind our house many times a week. My back injury, and later the winter weather, prevented me from hiking until recently, but now we’re getting out frequently.
7. Simple Obedience with Treats. For a field dog, I think the primary obedience skills are Here, Sit, and Heel. I originally clicker-trained all of them using treats, and Lightning has considerable experience with them, but they’ll always need more practice.
8. Casting Games with Treats. I’ve never quite understood what Mike means by this, so unless it happens to coincide with other work we’ve done with body language such as sweeping hand gestures, this may be an omission in our Stage 1 work. Hopefully it’s not a serious hole in Lightning’s training.
9. Walking on Leash (2 sides). This is a work in progress. By the way, I always try to balance all our training on both sides.
10. Introduction to Retrieving. This has always been my major focus, and Lightning has had scores of training sessions running marks.
11. Introduction to Birds. I often bring thawed birds for Lightning to retrieve, and he recently had his first flyer at a club training day.
12. Introduction to Water Retrieves. We finally got this item covered yesterday, as described in my previous post.
13. Introduction to Gunner-thrown Marks. Lightning has had this work in several guises. Whenever possible, I bring one or more assistants to our training sessions and they throw marks using blank pistols as gunfire. When I can’t get even one assistant, I use poorman singles, again with a pistol, or, if that’s not possible in a particular location, hey-hey-hey. In addition, of course, Lightning ran three gunner-thrown marks at the club training day last weekend.
14. Introduction to Gunfire (at a distance). Lightning has months of experience with blank pistols, and additional experience with shotgun fire this last weekend.
15. Introduction to Upland Hunting. I’m not a hunter, so this will be an omission in Lightning’s training.
16. Introduction to Lead Steady. I’m not clear what Mike has in mind for this item, but I place a premium at this stage on developing Lightning’s motivation, so I may be de-emphasizing steadiness more than Mike does at this stage with his dogs. Or maybe not. In any case, Lightning has always run outdoor retrieves wearing a check cord used to hold him till the handler releases him, and we generally don’t call for a throw until Lightning sits on cue (I use a whistle Sit these days). In addition, Lightning is required to wait until I return to his side and send him on poorman marks. So hopefully we’re covering this item enough for the present stage of training.
17. Walking Singles. This is the primary way we practice retrieving when I have a single assistant.
18. Yard Multiples. I’ve worked with Lightning on doubles in the house, in our yard, and in other fields, but after several sessions a few weeks, I’ve mostly discontinued this. As I discussed in a recent post, I’m more concerned at this stage with Lightning learning to lock in and give his full attention to every throw, rather than possibly impairing that training by having him practice multiples. He did have an introduction to the concept, and he’ll still get a few more as we continue Stage 1. Of course in later stages of his development, he’ll get a great many more multiples in many configurations over the years.

That completes our survey of Mike’s items. Now some additional Stage 1 items of my own:

• Selecting the puppy. This of course precedes any training. I discussed it in one of my first posts for this journal.
• Vet appointments. This is for exams and vaccinations. I rely primarily on a well-known holistic vet in our region, who I’ve been taking my dogs to for more than a decade. For emergencies, we’ll use a local conventional veterinary practice we like, and we have a number of specialists we’ve found over the years we can go to when needed.
• Handling paws, ears, etc. Lightning was always comfortable with most handling, but he didn’t like his paws and toes handled at first. Other dogs might have other sensitivities. The earlier the puppy has an opportunity to become comfortable with all kinds of handling, the easier it will be for you, vets, and others to care for him.
• Nail trimming. As I mentioned in a recent post, I waited till Lightning was six months old to get him comfortable with having his nails trimmed with a Dremel. It only took about a dozen sessions spread over a single day. I suspect it could and should be done earlier if possible.
• Socializing: puppies, adult dogs, other pet species, horses, children, other races, men, women, hats, umbrellas, back packs, trash cans, etc. I’ve broadened the socialization items from Mike’s list, and I look for every opportunity to give Lightning new, enriching experiences.
• Tug. I used to play a lot of tug with Lumi and Laddie, knowing that it’s a major tool for building motivation for some sports such as agility and Schutzhundt. I have taught the game to Lightning, and he sometimes plays it with me and with other dogs. However, I’m not convinced that Lightning considers it a major reinforcer as the Goldens did, and therefore I’m not sure it matters much for building motivation for the retrieve in Lightning’s case. This may vary with different breeds as well as with the individual. 
• Catch. A few weeks ago I taught Lightning to catch a tennis ball in the air. This is a game he seems to love, often initiating it on his own. As mentioned in an earlier post, I consider it a valuable game for a retriever for a number of reasons. I intend for Lightning also to learn to catch thrown treats, but we haven’t worked on that much and I don’t consider it as useful as playing catch with a ball, since treats don’t have the delivery-to-hand component.
• Leave it. This is a secondary but invaluable obedience cue, as discussed in an earlier post. As with other obedience work, it’s a skill to train early in the dog’s life and continue practicing for a lifetime.
• Stay on mat. This is a special case of Mike’s “Learning Limits” item. I’ve trained my other dogs to stay on a mat away from me for long durations, and I think it’s an invaluable skill. But I think Lightning had gotten the same training benefit from the kind of thing I described under “Learning Limits” above. He seems to have a natural stay.
• No jumping up unless invited. This is a work in progress.
• No counter surfing. Another work in progress. Lightning rarely counter surfs, but he has destroyed a few items he should have left alone.
• Charge clicker. As I’ve described previously, I like to recharge the clicker frequently when we use it. But I’m finding fewer uses for a clicker at this point in Lightning’s training.
• Hand touch. This is the first cue I like to train with a clicker, but I also like to continue practicing it, since it strengthens the dog’s response to sweeping hand gestures. I still practice it with Lightning sometimes.
• Wearing the dog. The value of tethering cannot be overstated. It can be an enormously valuable tool for several behavioral issues, and I think all my dogs are more responsive to me because of it. However, Lightning is extremely thin-boned and I’m afraid he’s more fragile than the Goldens around his neck. Since he seems to have become a Velcro dog anyway, I rarely tether him indoors.
• Visual Sit, verbal Sit, remote Sit, whistle Sit. This item is another special case of one of Mike’s items. I consider these to all be skills taught and practiced during Stage 1 and have done so with Lightning.
• Two-sided heel with automatic sit. This is another special case of one of Mike’s items. As I’ve described in previous posts, I’ve trained and continue to practice this with Lightning in several variations, such as walking at heel, coming to heel from a front approach, and swinging from heel on one side to the other.
• Practicing retrieves from a mat. I often bring a rubber mat to the start line when practicing retrieves with Lightning as well as Laddie. Like a novelist or screenwriter using a knife or other object to focus the reader’s attention, I believe a mat helps a retriever conceptualize both the beginning and end of the retrieve pattern. 

I think that covers most if not all of the training items in PRT Stage 1, where Lightning, who just turned six months old, is continuing his daily training.